Saturday, July 14, 2012

Sometime back, I read a post by Preethika about how females are held responsible even for disputes between men and how it is said that it all happened ‘coz of her’…

I was still pondering on it when I read this incident about a girl who was traveling in the Delhi Metro.

And then, I saw the news about a group of morons in some village near Baghpat in U.P. (calling themselves some sort of a Panchayat) who announced a diktat according to which all women under the age of 40,

Are to be barred from going to a market alone

Should not be seen in public without covering their heads

Cannot use mobile phones

Cannot have a love-marriage

It is not at all surprising such things actually happening all around us. Ever since our civilization came into being, women have been forced to find satisfaction in being the subordinate gender. Even all the religions, either through their texts or their rituals have made sure that this gender-discrimination not only continues but grows stronger.

Very early in the course of human evolution, males realized the special powers the females of their species were blessed with. The males realized that females were in fact, the stronger sex. So, before the female population could realize this fact, the make up of the society was constructed such that the females should never get to know their strength and would readily accept the superiority of the males.

Being a student of Zoology, I learned how living things evolved and how creatures adapted to retain certain functions and corresponding body parts. Over the passage of millions of years, these characters eventually got incorporated in the very genes of the creatures.

And I think, so has the aspect of male superiority got incorporated in the very DNA of our population. (At least of those in the sub-continent) Just as a baby of a carnivorous animal doesn’t need to be told to be attracted by flesh, similarly, it comes automatically to a man to feel superior to a woman.

I’m not generalizing each and every male in the Indian sub-continent to be the same. And surely they all are not the same. But it usually takes a fairly decent upbringing to make a male different from the above norm of male dominance over females.

To put it bluntly, males cannot tolerate a female to be an equal, let alone be better in any aspect of life. So, they have to be kept in subordination. Either through religion, culture, rituals, emotions, laws or if everything fails, through force.

The above diktat is supposedly to prevent harassment of females of the society. Obviously, the harassment is expected from the males. But strangely, the clever males themselves decide to restrict the freedom of the females in order to escape harassment.

I just wonder…

Why not ban all males from going to the market unless accompanied by a female ?

Why not propose a dress code for the males (who have no qualms in going around a public place even bare-chested) ?

Why not prevent males from using mobile phones ?

And when they put an age limit of 40, is it expected that each female also carries a proof of age along with her ? So, that a goon may come up to her and say…

“Hello Ma’am ! Are you being accompanied by any male ? Can I have a look at your ‘Voter ID’ ? Ohh. So you turned 40 yesterday ? Here’s your ID. Sorry to bother you. Enjoy your shopping.”

Or would he say…

“Hello Ma’am ! Are you being accompanied by any male ? No ? Can I have a look at your ‘Voter ID’ ? Ohh. So you are turning 40 next week ? Hey guys… come on. She asked for it !”

And just how did they get the idea that using a mobile phone jeopardizes the safety of a woman when she goes out ??? Is it so that a goon/molester calls on the mobile phone of a girl and says…

“Hello. Sorry to disturb you. Can you tell me your plans for shopping tonight ? Will you be alone ? Yes ? Good. I’ll be there with my goons. See you !”

And they have banned love-marriages. The order says that anyone resorting to love marriage will be boycotted by the community and anyone found helping them will face a similar fate. In other words, they have a problem with the concept of love marriage. So, even if the girl and guy are well settled in their careers and earning well, they will not be allowed to love and marry.

I now think that the same-religion/same-caste marriage thing is just an excuse to continue the like-minded communion of superiority-complexed males. Something they will lose if love marriages are allowed to take place which allows a girl to get something she likes and chooses.

The people who resort to such moronic rules are actually the males who, during their own lifetime, have passed through an age where they couldn’t achieve what they wanted. That includes the absence of technology (mobile phones to connect to their love interest) and the forceful rejection by the elders to any rare confession of love. So, these frustrated souls would rather die than let the females (who enjoy living in relatively better times) get away with their dreams, aspirations and most importantly, their freedom.

Often, while driving, I have noticed when a girl zooms past on her two-wheeler, within a matter of seconds, a guy (or a couple of them) on another two-wheeler, speed up past the girl, often swerving into her and making her stop in order to avoid a fall, and driving off after some sneers, glares or even some nasty words. I guess they just cannot stand being overtaken by a girl on the road even if she is in a hurry to reach her work.

Even during my college days, in the very first year, I ended up being second in my batch in the university exams. Ranks 1, 3, 4 and 5 were all taken by girls. I was more bewildered than anything about my result as I was praying to just pass but ended up being second. But, on more than one occasion, boys from my batch came up to me saying, “You should have topped. So, she should have been shown her real place !” Obviously, they didn’t care how they fared, but were visibly hurt because a female had topped.

So, be it at home, at work, at school or college, or even on the road, a man cannot digest a woman being better than him even if she has got nothing to do with him.

And I don’t think any set of rules or laws or even education can make a difference to this inherent gender-discrimination. As I said above, it seems to have been incorporated in our genes now. I only hope, and hope dearly, that the character of quiet acceptance hasn’t yet incorporated into the genes of females.